Trip to Zagreb & My Travel Essentials

As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve been away for a few days. I was on a business trip to Zagreb and even though it was extremely exhausting and intensive, I’ve found some time for a small shopping. This time, I’ve decided to purchase products that aren’t available in Bosnia, just to make it more exciting. But I’ll write all about it in the next Zagreb inspired post, now I’ll just sum up the trip and “color” my memories with some photos. I also haven’t forgotten about all the things I’ve packed with me. The thing is, I am usually an extremely organized individual but this time I’ve literally thrown everything in my suitcase about 15 minutes before I stepped out of my house. It was chaotic and the first time I’ve decently gave a look at what I brought with me was when I unpacked in my hotel room. Thankfully, I picked up everything I needed but if I had put more thought into packing, I’d probably bring along more things. Nevertheless, everything I packed worked perfectly. This will be a long post but it would’ve been even longer if I didn’t divide all my material into two parts – this one and my beauty haul. So let’s start with the view. I really loved it, too bad that the weather wasn’t sunny but the ninth floor redeemed the entire impression with this gorgeous view.

I stayed at Hotel Sheraton (just like last time) and they’ve put me on the same floor, room across the one I stayed in the previous time (I think it was in November last year). I’ll go on with my Travel Essentials but I have to capture this small detail which is actually really cool. The last time I stayed, TV wasn’t working (they were testing something) so I haven’t noticed this welcome message earlier.

I love their bathrooms and rooms in general, I had everything I needed and more. The moment I unpacked, just like any beauty blogger, the first thing in my mind was that I haven’t made any photos of my Travel Essentials at home so I quickly selected my face/ body/ hair care products and aligned them on the sink to pose for me. Make-up was seated on top of mutilated magazine pages. Imaginative, I know. I simply had to work with what I had at hand. I brought Balea Young Soft & Care Face Wash which did an excellent job and its review is almost done so it will be posted very soon. My alpha and omega – La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo was both, my day and night cream. I absolutely love products which I know I can use for both purposes. When I was really tired, my make up was taken off with Collistar Micellar Water (travel size) which came really handy. But if I had some strength left, I used the Balea face wash because that feeling of getting make-up,dirt and sweat off with water and a cleansing gel was priceless.

I showered with Yves Rocher Brazilian Coffe Beans Shower Cream which is now my favorite shower anything. I am in love with it and will review it soon along with the Californian Almond shower cream. I’ll just say that it’s perfect for shaving too. L’Occitane Cherry Blossom Shimmering Body Lotion provided an optimum amount of skin care and made me feel girly with the sophisticated shimmer. Wilkinson Xtreme3 is the best razor that I know of. My skin is looking literally ten times better compared to what it looked like when I was using any other razors.

When I’m home, I use hair conditioner and shampoo from the Schwarzkopf Schauma Phyto-Caffeine range but I wanted to travel light so I replaced the conditioner with a travel size Gliss Kur Total Repair conditioner. I was in shock with how good my hair looked and felt. It really nourished it and kept frizz at bay. My hair was silky smooth and really soft. I’m getting a hair mask from this line immediately since I’m so impressed. The Schauma Phyto-Caffeine shampoo is a godsend because it gave my hair that so desirable volume and bounce when I myself felt flat from the long drive. Schwarzkopf BC Miracle Oil is pure molten perfection in a bottle so of course I’d bring it with myself. I mean, I’m even scared of thinking what my hair would look like without it. My must have.

I am overall really pleased with all care products I’ve packed and when you have a small army of great products behind you, you definitely have more time to focus on work because that’s why I was there for. I really liked that I didn’t have to waste my time on thinking how I looked or dealing with a beauty mishap/ emergency. Next up is my make-up. Now, when you’re in a terrible rush, you don’t have the luxury of stopping and contemplating what goes with what, which shades of make-up to bring or anything beauty related for that matter. No shimmer, no bold colors because I had just to be presentable and professional. I found that I’ve brought all my safe essentials. Things with which I know I’ll look good and that won’t take much time to apply to get that flawless finish.

I packed everything in my Versace make-up bag which was a present and what a wonderful present it was. It fitted my most-loved foundation, the YSL Le Teint Touche Eclat Foundation of which I now refer to my it beautifying product. It makes my skin glow in the most flattering and natural way. I packed my favourite eye duo – Revelique Matte & Pearly Eye Shadow in Terra Cotta. I also had my EcoBella angled eyeshadow brush with which I lined my eyes using the charcoal shade from the aforementioned eye duo and dare I say that it did a magnificent job. My lips were glossy because I used the classy nude lip gloss Brilliant Anemone from Artdeco. When I wanted a flush of color I turned to Revelique Longlasting Lipcream in Frappe, a shade that I’m yet to review but I will reveal that it’s a much more beautiful shade than Vintage. Blush-wise, I has both Revelique blushes with me and it might sound, let’s say, not necessary but I was so glad that I did. The Peach blush was an ideal pick-me-up in the morning (yes, I had to wake up early) but the Raspberry was perfection for a night out. There’s another Revelique product that I will review and which I’m using for a while now and it’s glorious. It’s their Eyebrow Pencil which I think looks even better on dark brown brows than its Rimmel and Artdeco counterparts. There was a small compact mirror which I always have with me. Eyelashes were curled with a regular drugstore curler (Ovnak) and blush was applied with a Flormar Blush Brush. Eyelashes were coated with Flormar MAXXL Mascara ( I love this mascara) and since I’m not battling any acne I don’t have the need to pile up heavy concealer. I had some dark cirles ( I did go on a 6 hour trip straight from my night shift after all) so I packed my trusty Collistar Lifting Effect Concealer. Miracle in a tube, that’s all I have to say. I am also testing out the Artdeco Eye Shadow Base but the fact that I have brought it with me says enough.

I enjoyed some free time after the classes at Zagreb Airport going for a nice walk. I caught this big boy when I was walking around the hotel. I wasn’t in the mood to visit the crowded center of Zagreb because I was so exhausted so I don’t have any pictures of the Ilica to show you but I promised myself that I will next time I visit Zagreb. I do, however, have some snaps from Zagreb Airport as you will notice below.

Colleagues and I got together in the evenings to chat about our classes and just to hang out. The first night we were ambushed with a ferocious Cumulonimbus cloud which poured rain showers with such intensity for hours so we were caught in a small coffee shop near our hotel. I was certain that we will experience hail but fortunately it was all rain showers. Weather improved with every day passing so it was pretty sunny when we left for Bosnia. I actually enjoyed the drive until I noticed two huge Cumulonimbus clouds ahead. One was entirely located above Croatia but the second one extended from Bosnia. As we approached the Bosnia border, it became clear that it’s not a laughing matter and we had to go one part of the route directly below its base. Boy, it was scary as hell. Thunder roamed the sky and rain droplets were very heavy, hitting the ground with such velocity, out van was echoing. It really was a sight but it was hard to capture the entire experience on photos. Finally, when we approached my beloved Sarajevo, the air was clear as if nothing happened. We were welcomed with relatively clear and calm sky. You could smell the rain in the air which was pouring down behind us. Tired but hyped up, I arrived to a clean and comfy home. Traveling light meant that I had nothing special to unpack so I put on my PJs and was off to dream land. Pop in sometimes to see what goodies I got from this amazing trip to Zagreb.